Press Release 1 August 2002

Human
Genetics Alert response to findings on genetics and
crime

Human
Genetics Alert (1) responded to the news that a gene may influence
abused children's risk of becoming antisocial (2) by urging caution
about the over-enthusiastic application of the
finding.

Dr
David King, HGA's Coordinator, said: "This research can easily play
into the tendency to fix social problems by medicalising them.And in doing so it may
actually make these young people more likely to commit crime, not
less so.

"Quite
apart from the side-effects of the drugs they are likely to be
prescribed, the over-prescription of Ritalin for 'Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder' shows how society tends to deal with
difficult children.It
is naive to think that we can just target those at increased
risk.If you take an
abused child, who has so far done nothing wrong, and drag them into
the mental health system, you are likely to destabilise them by
reinforcing the very messages that they have received from their
abuse: that they are bad and dangerous.Such interventions also risk
giving the child a bad reputation, leading to isolation and bad
treatment by peers and the school system, which will precipitate
exactly the kind of behaviour the doctors are trying to avoid.Will these children become
'the usual suspects' that get picked up by the police after every
instance of juvenile crime?Later on, employers and insurers may discriminate against
them, increasing the chances that they will be involved in
crime.

"I
am also very concerned about how the media tend to report such
research.Typical
headlines like 'Crime gene discovered' only reinforce the simplistic
genetic determinism which is now commonplace in society.The history of eugenics
shows how dangerous the combination of genetic determinism and
authoritarian policies that blame individuals can be.We need the government to
fund a public education programme to combat the growing genetic
determinist trend.

"While
it is possible that some research in behavioural genetics may bring
benefits, we need a democratic debate about just why we are funding
this research and where it is leading us."

Notes for
editors

1.
Human
Genetics Alert is an independent watchdog
group, funded by a leading British charity.

2.
Research led by Terrie Moffitt of the University of Madison
Wisconsin and the Institute of Psychiatry in London, to be published
in Science on August 2nd, suggests that a variation in
the MAO A gene may influence whether children who have suffered
trauma go on to show antisocial behaviour later in their
lives.